Alone With You
by AngelNo13Bardiel
Summary: (original version of Somewhere Out There) Nothing to see here except for some harmless Valentine's Day fluff. Go elsewhere if you're looking for *anything* other than that. -Story complete/C&C appreciated/Please leave a review if you liked-


**DISCLAIMER:** I still don't own Evangelion or any of its characters, that's all still the property of…whoever owns it these days. Probably never will either, but I'm okay with that (too much legal hassle to potentially deal with). Original series timeline applies here, nothing Rebuild-centric. I'd place this one somewhere around…actually, I don't really know _where_ to put this one. Never really did, to be honest. Just pick a quiet moment somewhere in the series before it all went horribly wrong (your guess _where_ is as good as mine). 'This' denotes thoughts, while "this" is speech, whole lines _**like this**_ are written words and whole lines _like this_ are sung lyrics. I also don't own the song used herein (that would be "Lovesong" by **The Cure** , with only one little alteration), I'm only borrowing it for a bit. I think that covers everything, let's get right into it!

 _ **-Alone With You-**_

Asuka Langley Sohryu had to laugh and shake her head at what she'd seen that day at school. "The girls in this country _must_ be mental," she quietly mused as she walked up to the elevator heading up to the apartment she shared with Misato and Shinji. Today was Valentine's Day, and it was customary for girls to give chocolates to the boys they liked, with the boys giving the same next month on White Day. 'The boys in our school are just a bunch of immature pervs and idiots,' she thought, seeing the same embarrassment and dopey-eyed stares happening again and again throughout the day.

Stepping inside the elevator and pressing the button for her floor, Asuka snorted at the thought of doing such a thing for a boy. "Where I'm from, the guy makes the first move," she thought aloud. "Such a backwards tradition…" Even Hikari, one of the few people she would call smart, had given in and made some rather delicious-looking treats. 'For _Suzuhara_ , of all people,' the redhead mentally noted, not sure if she was happy for her friend or wondering if the class rep needed her head examined. 'All the boys she could have, and she likes that _ape_ of a person.'

The one thing that day that seemed odd was the behavior of her fellow pilot and roommate, Shinji Ikari. He had turned down at least five or six girls who brought him chocolate and candies. "What kind of _dummkopf_ turns down free sweets?" she asked aloud, knowing that she wouldn't have if it had been her. He had also seemed to avoid her gaze or presence all day…other than those times she had seen him out of the corner of her eye, turning his head quickly away. 'The baka's being unusually evasive today…even for _him_ ,' she thought, noting how he'd left school before her. She hadn't passed him along the way, something that was also strange. 'He _always_ waits for me, like a sad little puppy,' she mused, snickering at the mental image that brought on.

The elevator stopped and opened with a 'ding' a few seconds later, bringing Asuka to her floor. She walked over to the door to Misato's apartment and fished her keys out of her bag, opening it shortly after and stepping inside quietly. "I'm home," she said with some volume, waiting a few moments for a response. "Not like I'll get one," she said with a shrug. "Not supposed to be anyone home except for me and baka-Shinji." She slipped off her school shoes, noting that his were curiously absent. 'Guess he's out with the other stooges,' she reasoned. 'Good, a nice and quiet afternoon for me.'

Sliding open the door to her room, Asuka clicked the light on and placed her bag down. As she was about to change out of her uniform, the Second Child took note of something that hadn't been on her bed this morning: a CD player with headphones with a neatly folded piece of paper taped to it. "What in the hell…" she said under her breath, sitting down while picking up the device and looking it over. She noticed that the paper had something written on the shown side. It was her name in Kanji, the handwriting she easily recognized. " _Shinji_ left this?" she asked, looking at the neat strokes he usually wrote with.

Unfolding the paper, Asuka let her eyes scan the contents of the note:

 _ **Asuka,  
I know you still haven't gotten completely used to the Kanji yet, so I tried to make this as clean as possible.  
That's okay with me, I don't want to waste a word of this page.  
I also know you don't really care for Valentine's Day, you've been saying so all week.  
But this is something that's been on my mind for a lot longer, probably the majority of the time we've known each other.  
There are many things that I would like to say to you, but I don't know how.  
What I want to say…I don't know how to appropriately put in words on paper.  
Not that I would do a stellar job of saying it aloud to you, either.  
So I went with something I do know: music.  
This wasn't easy to put together, and it was a little embarrassing, but it was all worth it to me.  
Just please put on the headphones and press play, it'll say all I wanted to.  
And remember this: No matter how you may have treated me or what you've said to me, what's contained on this disc is how I feel.  
However you feel about that and whatever your response is, I just wanted you to know these things.  
-Shinji Ikari**_

"What the hell is he going on about?" Asuka asked aloud, placing the paper down and opening the player. Inside was a blank-label CD, nothing to indicate what was on it. 'Guess there's only one way to find out,' she assumed, closing the top before placing the headphones over her ears and pressing the play button. There was a few noises that sounded like someone shuffling and setting up before a cello began playing a somber series of notes. She didn't place the melody but did find it soothing, if a bit too downbeat for her tastes. The whole thing was very rough-sounding, like it was cheaply recorded. A young, quiet male voice joined in after a moment.

 _Whenever I'm alone with you  
You make me feel like I am home again  
Whenever I'm alone with you  
You make me feel like I am whole again_

Asuka was more than a little surprised when she finally recognized the voice. 'T-that's…Shinji!' she thought, more than a little surprised he even knew _any_ English. His accent wasn't even _that_ bad. 'Baka must have practiced quite a bit to manage _that_ much.'

 _Whenever I'm alone with you  
You make me feel like I am young again  
Whenever I'm alone with you  
You make me feel like I am fun again_

Asuka could hear the longing and melancholy in Shinji's singing voice. 'Who knew he carried that much sadness around?' she mused, paying full attention to the music and lyrics. 'But…why give me _this_?'

 _However far away  
I will always love you  
However long I stay  
I will always love you  
Whatever words you say  
I will always love you  
I will always love you_

Asuka sat wide-eyed when she heard those first few lines. 'He…he _loves_ me?' she asked herself. 'No…he couldn't…' As shocked as the redhead was, she couldn't suppress a giggle when she heard him whisper ' _fly me to the moon_ ' a few seconds after the chorus. But those other words never left her mind for a second.

 _Whenever I'm alone with you  
You make me feel like I am free again  
Whenever I'm alone with you  
You make me feel like I am clean again_

'After how I've been toward him, he _really_ loves me?' Asuka questioned herself again. 'I mean, he's just a baka and a hentai and…' She didn't finish the thought, only letting it hang in her mind. She knew better, he had never done anything toward her but show kindness and care. 'Even if he _is_ a bit of a doormat about it,' she corrected herself.

 _However far away  
I will always love you  
However long I stay  
I will always love you  
Whatever words you say  
I will always love you  
I will always love you_

The cello notes ended immediately after the last words, the CD stopping soon after. 'Only one track…' Asuka thought while removing the headphones, still reeling from what that one song had revealed to her. She felt like she could tear up at any second, something she hadn't done in a long time. 'I had joked with him about the walls of Jericho,' she thought with some amusement, 'and here he went right _through_ them in one action.' She shook her head, realizing that wasn't quite the case. 'No…he'd already did a good job of doing that by just being _himself_.' She didn't know when it happened, but while living together, she had gone from disliking him to tolerating him to just-on-the-verge-of-liking the Third Child…and now he had gone and done _this_.

Asuka felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, which she always felt when someone was watching her. Taking a moment to inhale and exhale a large breath, she spoke up. "I know it's you, baka. Misato's not _nearly_ that quiet."

Shinji Ikari was nearly scared out of his wits by Asuka's words. He had been in the bathroom the whole time, having hurried home ahead of her to set up the redhead's "surprise" before finding a suitable spot to hide and still dressed in his school uniform. The boy had stepped out when he heard her speak and take a seat, so he quietly watched from the safety of the hallway outside as she listened. He hadn't really expected her to sense and address him as she did. He coughed and swallowed before answering the girl. "Uh…hi Asuka."

"Don't you 'hi' me, Ikari," Asuka said in a harsh whisper. She held up the note and CD player. "Did you mean it?"

Shinji sighed and prepared himself for the confrontation he'd been dreading since coming up with this 'idea'. "Asuka-"

"Did. You. Mean. It," Asuka spoke out louder this time, heavily enunciating every word. "Don't you _dare_ dance around this."

Shinji leaned onto her door frame, looking down at the floor. "I-I did," he answered. "Every word."

Asuka placed the note and player down again and looked back at him. "Why?" she asked in a soft voice.

Shinji stared at her, puzzled for a moment before getting what she meant. "I don't know why," he replied, being completely honest with her. "I've never been able to sum it up in words. But I…I just _know it_."

The two let the silence set in for quite a while before anyone spoke up again. "That was quite a performance, Third," Asuka commented, turning away from his gaze. "I didn't know you knew English."

Shinji was stunned by her sudden compliment, but recovered quickly. "I didn't a month ago," he answered, blushing slightly from the kind words. "It was fairly difficult to learn."

"How'd you record it?" Asuka ventured.

"A laptop and an old computer microphone…with a little help from Misato," Shinji answered. Noticing her quick look of shock, he added, "B-but she didn't know _what_ it was for. I…told her it was for a school assignment. I recorded it when no one else was in the apartment. And just like the English, none of it was easy." He returned his stare to the ground. "But…I made the effort."

"For me?" Asuka questioned, craning her head to see him nod slightly. She went quiet again for a moment, thinking of the correct words. "You know…you did this all backwards."

Shinji lifted his head, taken aback by the statement. "W-what?"

"This so-called Valentine's Day 'tradition' the Japanese are so proud of," Asuka explained, focusing on the far wall of her room. "You did it all wrong. Isn't today the day the _girls_ give the gifts?"

Shinji had to smile at her usual sense of humor. "I know it isn't like that in other countries," he replied. "And since you're not from here, I thought I'd do it your way."

"Hmph, good boy," Asuka whispered, just quiet enough for him not to hear. She slowly stood from her bed, never fully turning toward him. "I…that was really sweet, baka-Shinji."

Shinji was at a loss for words, that was the nicest he'd ever heard Asuka's voice. "T…thank you," he said, blushing even harder now. He turned to head away from her door.

"And where do you think _you_ are you going?" Asuka said, her voice sounding once more normal.

Shinji stopped mid-step and held his breath. He'd been waiting for her to about-face and smash what little spine he had into dust after his confession. "Y-yes?" he asked, his voice cracking from fear.

"Aren't you going to wait and see what my response is?" Asuka asked, her hands on hips and tilting her head a little.

Shinji blinked a few times, unsure if he'd heard her correctly. "Your…response?"

"Yeah, baka," Asuka went on, walking a few steps until the two were less than a foot apart. "You're supposed to wait for a girl's reaction to doing or saying something like _that_ before leaving."

"O-oh, okay…" Shinji said quietly, letting out the breath he hadn't been aware he was holding.

Asuka sighed, but smiled a little at his unease. "Relax, baka-Shinji," she reassured him, "I'm not going to attack you." She watched him let out a long breath and his body relax its posture before going on, a smirk forming on her face. "At least…not like _you_ were thinking." His body went rigid again, fearing whatever she was planning. "Now close your eyes for a second."

Shinji did as Asuka had asked and shut his eyes. The next thing he felt was a feather-light touch on his cheek, which caused him to blush terribly. He opened his eyes suddenly to find the girl pulling her head away slowly from that spot.

"That was for your performance," Asuka whispered. "And this… _this_ is for those words." She didn't give Shinji a chance to think about it as she closed the gap and pressed her lips tightly to his.

Shinji nearly jumped back in surprise before realizing what the redhead was doing, his whole body tingling from the sensation coming from the point they were joined at. He stood statue-still for a few seconds before relaxing his arms and unsteadily wrapping them around Asuka's midsection, which elicited a surprised squeak from the girl before she sunk even further into his embrace. She lifted her arms and placed them around his neck, almost wanting to cry from the warmth and care she felt at the moment.

Asuka pulled back slowly after several seconds, needing to catch her breath. Placing a hand on Shinji's cheek, she whispered just loud enough for him to hear. "How was that?" He didn't answer, only smiling wide and nodding. "So…what _are_ you going to do now that you're alone with me?"

"Stay like this as long as possible," Shinji answered without hesitation before pressing their lips together again. Asuka was surprised by his reply and didn't resist a bit, only kissing him back just as passionately. The two teens stayed like this for a long time, the whole world disappearing except for themselves…

 _ **-End-**_

 **Author's Notes:** See what I meant in the summary? Nothing of real substance here, only WAFF and feels. Honestly, you'd have gotten more stimulation out of sticking a penny in an electrical outlet…

Ah, who am I kidding? I like this one…or, at least it seems I _did_. Y'see, like _**Go Back to Sleep, Precious**_ , this was another old-version-of-an-already-released story; in this case, a prototype version of _**Somewhere Out There**_ (I think I hinted at/teased its release in _**Nephilim**_ 's omakes) I found on the same CD-R. With a little dusting off/rewriting, I think it came out just fine, a nice little something for the fans on this lovey-dovey holiday.

Oh…and be on the lookout for the follow-up on White Day next month. Oh you better believe we're not done here just yet, there's one more part to this canon that I _think_ A/S fans are going to just love. Or at least enjoy, either one's good to me.

As for the question of whether or not Shinji was familiar with **The Cure** , here's something to consider: he's _canonically_ seen in the original series wearing an **XTC** t-shirt. I don't think it would be a stretch to say he may have a passing interest in post-punk. And for the eagle-eyed among you, that was indeed a nod to "Wonderwall" in his note. How could I resist?

As per usual, pre-read and then some was done by Ash. Thanks again, ma'am…this time, for getting me to update and release these old things.

I'd also like to take the time to dedicate this particular story to her. Thank you for being my better half and making me feel like the world's luckiest loser for the last five years and counting, it's been better than anything I could have previously hoped for.

And yes, that _does indeed_ mean that "this one goes out to the one I love". Sappy? Sure is. Then again, so was what you just read. So…yeah.

As usual: good comments will be appreciated, bad ones will be ignored (or kept for firewood). But I do favor good/helpful criticism, so send it my way! And review! Even if it's not positive, review!

Until our paths next cross,  
 **-AngelNo13Bardiel-**


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